short
by sasuukeh
Summary: He never noticed how truly short she was until he saw her legs dangling over her train seat. She was far from amused. —rokunami; oneshot.
"Papa, he did it again! _He_ called me pipsqueak!"

Her father gently patted her head, a lighthearted chuckle escaping his lips. "There, there, sweetie. He won't bother you anymore when you grow up and enter middle school."

Her mother approached behind her father with airy steps, her face lit up, amused. "Listen to your father, Naminé, besides, I think it's adorable!" She peered over her husband's shoulder, eyeing her young eight year old daughter brightly.

"B-But mom! _He_ keeps annoying me! It's like _he_ has nothing better to do than to bother me..." Naminé felt like she participating in a losing war. Not to mention, her sister didn't really seem to care about her problems pertaining to a certain someone as the redhead merely shook at the blonde's shoulder impatiently.

"Nami, c'mon! You promised you'd play with me and Sora today!"

"I don't want to go with _him_ around, Kai! You know how they stick together like they're superglued?" By _he_ , she meant the he-devil. She found it hard to believe he was related to someone as pure and sweet as Sora.

Kairi had pouted, hugging her sister's arm. "But you proooomised! Besides, it would give you two time to, y'know, form a friendship! You need more friends, Nami!" Sora was probably waiting for them already, bored out of his wits. Kairi began to tug her sister forcefully out the door, her eight year old strength overpowering her frail sister.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!"

"But, Kairi! I don't want to see _him_!"

* * *

 **Short**

Roxas/Naminé

* * *

Growing up, Naminé always disliked being called short and anything remotely synonymous to it. People would often pat her on the head like she was a little puppy when she was a child, and while the attention was nice at first, she began to hate it. She grew fond of her father's gentle pats to the head and her mother's warm head kisses; her best friend and twin sister, Kairi, also gave her sisterly kisses to the head. Only one person managed to tick her off about her height and it was a boy too.

His name?

Roxas.

Moving her seventeen year old body so she can get to her classes on time, begrudgingly, she heaved a great sigh when she plopped into her seat right next to Kairi. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night due to a rather important quiz she had to study for, so her body felt sluggish, and she felt like she was one with the dead today with her somewhat apparent dark circles and groggy groans.

She heard the snickering of her sister, but she merely assumed her sister was laughing at her pathetic excuse of trying to take a nap before class started in ten minutes or she was laughing at a funny text she received. Therefore, she paid no heed, cobalt eyes blankly staring out the window as she laid her head atop her table. She forgot how beautiful the sky was when she actually took the time to sightsee; she felt at peace if she excluded the chattering of the room.

She gave a yelp when she felt pressure on the very center of her head, her hands confirming it was another person's elbow when she had reached up to take the offending object off her head.

"Your shortness makes a good armrest."

If she had her sketching pencil in hand, she might've just fall into the urge to jab him with it. But no, she was Naminé; she was the model student, the sweetheart of this class. Besides, she was too tired to do anything violent today. "Roxas," came her exhausted voice, not even bothering to continue her interrogation, or the interrogation she was planning to do.

"Shorty." She didn't even need to look at him to tell that he was wearing his grin.

Naminé was no fool, she had an inkling as to why he was here. Her hand tiredly reached into her bag, bringing forth a notebook. "Here, I took these notes for you when you were absent."

"Ah, thanks." Sparing a glance at her sister to see Roxas flipping through pages of said notebook and Kairi chatting with Sora and Selphie, she didn't really know what to do except sit there in her own awkward silence. She had thought about being civil to him and start a conversation that could probably be marked as friendly, but then, he suddenly interjected, "Kairi was going to stay over at Sora's house today, right?"

Her cobalt eyes glimmered humorously at the mental image of all the chaos of what her sister could unleash at her own boyfriend's house, though, she still mustered a decent reply, "Yeah, she told me yesterday." Her groan suddenly fled her lips, hand pushing back loose strands behind her ears. "That'll mean I'm going home by myself again. You're lucky that your house is a five minute train ride and walk away from here as opposed to my fifteen minute one!"

Naminé had failed to see his eyes looking contemplatively with anxiousness at her. "Say... You could ride with me on the train. We live relatively near each other after all." Ah, that horrid fact was practically engraved in her head when her parents couldn't stop making visits to talk to his parents in the past.

She gave it some thought, really, she did. She remembered that she had to be home on the dot today—she usually had to leave an hour after he did due to after school activities, so she had to make it back an hour back home early since she had a funeral to attend to today.

It was no wonder she'd be low on sleep today.

She had no idea how Kairi managed to sleep enough to power her during the afternoon.

"Sure, Roxas," she meekly smiled, attempting to be friendly, "I'll go with you."

She could've sworn his eyes lit up and his grin looked extra radiant, but she assumed it was because of the sunlight reflecting its rays off the window beside her.

* * *

She was fully awake, just didn't become fully awake before Kairi had chucked an eraser at her head when the final lesson of the day was finally over. And here she was, awkwardly seated beside him on an empty train (she supposed it was empty due to it being a Friday afternoon and everyone was always lazy on Fridays) and being surrounded by so many people. With her school bag being clutched onto for her dear life on her lap, she fidgeted with the straps, trying to ignore the close proximity she had with him. If she shifted, her arm would accidentally brush against his arm.

She hadn't been in the right state of mind when he chuckled—really, it sounded too melodious to her ears, and she wasn't supposed to think like this about him! It was probably his singer voice; he'd been so adamant on being a singer. She didn't want to tell him, but she thought he had a good chance of achieving that dream. Again, she wouldn't tell him... With that accursed nickname he dubbed her, she was going to _dislike_ him (hate is such a strong word, she had once told her sister when they were twelve years old)!

"Why are you laughing?" she had inquired, her eyes being too inquisitive for her own liking.

"It's just that," he had started, adding another chuckle probably to torment her insides because her tummy felt light and her heart almost stopped, "I never noticed how truly short you are until I see that your legs are dangling over the seat." He had gestured to the floor and at her legs, to which she instinctively peered at.

He was right.

Her legs were dangling above the floor, barely even letting her tiptoes grazed against the floor. All the while, his feet were perfectly planted on the solid ground. "So what?" she murmured defensively, hugging her bag close to her. "You've been pointing this out ever since the day we met..."

His hands went up in a placating motion. "...Just saying, is all!"

"Really...?" Dubiousness touched upon her tongue, dripping all over her words. "Whatever you say." No, it didn't bother her that she was _expecting_ a longer elaboration from him. No really, she was _fine_. That pain in her chest was just... _Nothing_ at all.

When she tried to settle comfortably into her seat, she noticed a little child staring at her with his wide curious eyes. Naminé usually liked children; she thought they were simply wonderful and fun to play with. She would smile and wave at them, she would be a big sister figure to them. Though, she couldn't really say she felt that way right now. She disliked being stared at.

She had taken it upon herself to scooch closer into the boy next to her, her source of annoyance, and her face burned when he whip his head to her, eyes incredulously wide.

"What are you doing?!" he had hissed, and she had winced in return.

"That little kid keeps staring at me, it's unsettling...!"

"You didn't have to do—" He wildly gestured with a free hand at their predicament. "—this!"

"Pretend... I'm..." Think, Naminé! "Your girlfriend!"

"My what?!"

 _Oops..._

"Stop shouting, people are starting to stare!" the petite blonde had desperately whispered back with a pink face. Apparently, everyone thought they were a couple "snuggling" so they rolled their eyes before attending to whatever they were doing previously.

She didn't know what had gotten into his head, but he laid his head atop hers whilst she blinked. "You look like a little kid who's lost on a train. Who else scooches into someone when they're being stared at by another little kid?" She noticed that he was using the soft voice he'd use when consoling a lost animal; gentle and comforting.

"I panicked...!" No, she didn't like him. No, she didn't understand why her chest was beating so quickly. Must be the heat! Her eyes looked at the faint scar on his arm, the memory of her past self accidentally scratching at his arm when she was using her scissors during arts and craft during elementary. She had been holding scissors and he was conveniently passing by. Ever since that day, Naminé decided that scissors were a thing to be feared, and she would have Kairi do the cutting for her.

Ever since she saw the tears in his little eyes and pained face, something sparked in her. It made her grow less scorned towards him. She grew up while making somewhat good conversations with him. He still didn't know why she changed, but he never complained. She took that as a good sign to continue this new attitude.

He must've spot her eyeing that old scar from the past because he murmured, "You were always clumsy in your own way back then, remember?"

He sounded sleepy; she absentmindedly brushed her thumb across that old scar. "Only because you were around—I never got any work done because of you."

"No need to play the blame game."

She lazily stuck her tongue out, the sunset growing visible across the sky. "You sound sleepy." They still had plenty of time before she had to make her leave. She grabbed her sketchbook out of her bag and started to sketch. "Rest up."

* * *

She hadn't noticed that he had purposely missed his stop until they were already at her stop. He took it so casually, yawning and telling her to get off the train before she gets a ride into the next town.

 _Why did you miss your stop for me?_

She wanted to ask him that, but she didn't.

They merely made their way silently towards her home, the sky being covered with gray clouds, and she had estimated she had around five more minutes before going home. She just didn't notice the sudden rain drops splattering all over her head and the even more abrupt action of something brushing near the corner of her lips and something heavy over her head.

"Wha—"

"Keep it, you can give it back on Monday."

She looked at the school blazer he set on her head to keep her dry and stared back at him. "I... Thank you?" His back was faced to her and she wondered why he had to sacrifice his blazer for her. They were supposed to dislike each other. What was he doing?

"See you next week, _Naminé_."

She didn't notice her eyes widening, lips parting, her heart beating, or her face turning pink as she stood there in the rain, his blazer still on her head, as he walked off.

"See you too... Roxas."

* * *

 **A/N:** I wrote this on a whim since I was feeling shitty today tbh. I don't know if I should write this from Roxas' POV too because imo, this sounds so terrible since I didn't plan this story, but I hope this was a decent read? Idk, let me know what you guys think! RokuNami Day is coming up too! ;u;


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